


a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve; a history of losing my shirt

by Reign2Rain



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Friends to Lovers, High School, M/M, no capitalization on purpose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-07
Updated: 2020-09-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:07:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26345326
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reign2Rain/pseuds/Reign2Rain
Summary: kuroo grumbles. “how come you never let me win? i think it’s a little unfair.”“same reason you’re my player two. winning is for winners and losing is for kuroo.”
Relationships: Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou
Comments: 4
Kudos: 78





	a tendency to wear my mind on my sleeve; a history of losing my shirt

**Author's Note:**

> it’s just one of my quick feelings-aesthetic fic enjoy :3 (that’s what it started it off as until i screwed it up aah)  
> no capitals because style or smth  
> kuroken yayyy. friends to lovers.

when they’re nine, ten, eleven, kemna distinctively remembers they’re about the same size. not to mention a size, a build, that’s kinda...twiggy. they’re like sticks in the mud and things are simple but not dull. days are just days; time is just what it is.

sometimes kenma thinks he’s going to be left behind. he has wits, might be fleet-footed. but should he ever trip, he doesn’t think his limbs are long enough to catch him back up.

except with kuroo around, kenma has a running buddy. (a dog really, kuroo’s kind of. a silly-amount of loyal and goofy.) they run together, and they stop together, whenever the need, and everything seems a little easier. kenma runs with a lighter gait, less worry, less weight.

he should hate kuroo for dragging him along in the first place, even when hindsight spits out stories of things being easier than expected (which doesn’t really mean anything, really. worst case scenarios are supposed to be calculated; probability of an outcome is not of importance). 

he never does.

* * *

kenma thinks all their clumsy mistakes they made when they were young were bound to happen, and that with each shed of skin, they grow into their new bodies a little better.

but in five years, kuroo does more than grow out of his shell. and because he no longer needs the protection, it starts to fade out. just like eraser shavings and colored pencils and chicken scratch (maybe not the last one. kuroo’s teacher still claims she can never identify his writing from her four year old’s), it belongs with the colored drawings of nine, ten, and eleven.

now that they’re fifteen, sixteen, there are only clean, crisp photographs of new kuroo. new kuroo who’s steady and easy and lithe in movements and matters and manners. new kuroo’s shoulders fill out his shirts with his metamorphosis, of which are actually two. first kuroo steps into lanky, awkward, and long-limbed, but from there, he slips into graceful, sauntering. new kuroo has a _drawl_ now. the voice-cracks of the kid calling out for his closest friend’s melted down and all that’s left is speaking slow and sure. he listens to you with everything he is and when he talks, it’s soft words with his sweet candy-grin. people (mostly girls. but also kuroo’s friends. his teachers. strangers. the entire world.) are ready to fall down for him, to die for him.

kuroo is repulsive and kenma tells him so. 

and then kuroo sniggers like a prat and kenma wonders if he made everything up in his head but then kuroo is sending him a friend request on Kingdom Hearts or Stoke the Night and whatever.

there are a lot of confession letters though. kuroo _is_ the captain of a sports team, after all. he’s intellectual and apparently (supposedly) funny and interesting?

kuroo still looks after him a lot though and if it were anyone else (yamamoto telling him to hustle so they can win the next match for sure - that kind of attitude is neither well reasoned nor correct), kenma would be a lot more annoyed.

but kuroo does his own thing though, kenma lets him get away with it and their relationship works nice enough.

“it’s my third year,” kuroo says in the beginning of april, the first day they walk home from school. (first day went okay. fukunaga’s in his class and kenma likes him well enough). “everything’s going to change soon so i figured i’d roll with it. help things along.”

“mhm.” kenma senses whatever kuroo’s trying to say is important. kuroo doesn’t usually stall but if he is then it’s just a taller hill of apprehension kenma has to climb. his palms begin dampening. his thumb punches the power button on his phone. on, off. click click click.

“thank you for being my friend,” kuroo’s pace slows. “it’s meant a lot to me.”

“mhm,” kenma repeats. _and?_ it means a lot to kenma too but they both know it.

kuroo looks straight ahead. they are walking after all and the big bad wolf looks like he has so much on his mind he just might walk into the street if he takes his eyes off the horizon. “when we were in junior high, i had a huge crush on you.”

 _huh._ if this is kuroo’s big revelation, then kenma’s been overestimating him. he’s not even trying to be mean when he laughs, just a little. “yeah. i figured.”

kuroo slaps one of his ginormous hands to his forehead and groans. “what.”

kenma shrugs, starting to relax; it’s always easier to know how to deal with something once you know what you’re dealing with. it’s even easier when it’s someone this familiar. 

kuroo threads a hand into the thick of his bed-hair and tugs the way he does when he’s nervous. when he mutters under his breath, kenma hears just this bit, “okay but...but i...ah. well this changes things.”

“little bit,” kenma agrees, tucking his phone into his pocket. “okay so do we hold hands now or should i wait for flowers first.”

“this is _not_ funny,” kuroo protests, moving his head down to the back of his neck. it’s a little funny. “this is a problem! this is a terrible problem. also, you’re a rat bastard and anyone who thinks _i’m_ the evil one between the two of us is crazy.”

“false,” he objects, and then because he can’t help himself, he adds, “okay so when do we kiss.”

“ _gooooooo away_ , kenma. you’re annoying.”

“no, that’s _you_.”

“no it’s not.”

“uh, yeah it is?”

“no it’s not.”

kuroo grumbles. “how come you never let me win? i think it’s a little unfair.”

“same reason you’re my player two. winning is for winners and losing is for kuroo.”

and because kuroo is a huge dork ( _and a loser)_ he _breaks_ and snickers. “i see.”

kenma hums, content. they both are. still, this was going somewhere before he derailed them to steal a stupid laugh out of stupid kuroo. he leads them back onto the tracks with “so.”

“so,” kuroo echoes.

“you still...feel that way?”

kuroo raises his eyebrows to say _yeah._ and it’s not like he’s wary; he’s not, because he knows kenma. but he’s given kenma full control of steering and all of a sudden, he doesn’t know where they’re going.

“hm. hypothetically speaking, what would our dates look like?”

“i dunno?” kuroo looks embarrassed, like he wants off this ride. “just hanging out at my house? two rounds of league? some ramen from down the street? damn, kenma, i dunno.”

“so. just the usual?” kenma blames himself for expecting any different. he’s trying not to smirk but ah, kuroo makes this hard.

“yeah, i guess? maybe talk shit about your taste in music, even though you think we listen to the same things? tell you i’m making you a good playlist and put all our favorite songs anyways? wonder if you’ll put your head on my shoulder later? i dunno.”

“you’re terrible at this,” kenma observes. “why does everyone think you’re charming?”

kuroo shrugs. _fine. maybe he’s kind of cute._ kenma supposes.

he’s finally decided on the other thing too. “okay.”

“hm?”

“i said, _okay_.” kenma repeats.

“okay to what?” kuroo looks so puzzled kenma has to laugh, and then the realization starts to show through. “oh. you don’t mean...oh.”

“yeah.”

“are...are you sure?” kuroo says, with a little grin. “for real?”

kenma rolls his eyes. from now on, he’ll only talk when kuroo decides not to be stupid.

(if he’s a little more excited than he thinks he’s showing, well. it’s okay for kuroo to know that.)  
  


* * *

  
_“you’re going to ignore me if i’m being a smartass...until i stop being a smartass? did i get that right?” kuroo says. “_ _huh. well don’t hold your breath.”_

_kenma gives him the most unimpressed look he can muster._

_kuroo grins, like he thinks he’s charming. or something._

_maybe he is, just a little.)_

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading!!! comments make a heart go brrrrr


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